Occupational Safety and Health Culture in Chile

In 1968  work related injury rate in Chile was 35%,  every year 35 of 100 workers were injured at work, with lost working days and results of death or disability.   In that year the Chilean government passed Law 16.744, which established a mandatory insurance against work related injuries and diseases, paid fully by employers for every hired worker. This insurance is paid according to risk associated to the productive activities developed, and to behavior of companies in rates of accidents and diseases. This insurance is administered by 3 private non profit workers compensation companies, and 1 state owned one. This Law mandates also prevention activities developed at the working environment to control hazards, and  with workers in terms of training, respect of the right to know about risks in their workplace, proper use of personal protective devices that must be provided by employers, surveillance programs for occupational diseases, complete medical treatment if injured and full wage replacement from day 1 until 730 days, in case of not recovery workers receive economic compensation for their loss of production capacity. From then on constant efforts have been devoted to develop a safety culture among Chilean employers and workers,  and the results show an accident rate of around 6% for workers insured in one of three workers compensation companies that provide insurance to 4 million workers.  This result has been achieved by installing a safety culture of permanent evaluation of working conditions, on the job training, self care consciousness and workers involvement in the development of any needed improvement. However, there is still a significant difference among big and small size companies that needs to be addressed in terms of resources allocated to prevention and workers/employers participation.  Also independent workers need to be included.